Prostate histoscanning true targeting guided prostate biopsy: initial clinical experience

To evaluate the feasibility of prostate histoscanning true targeting (PHS-TT) guided transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) biopsy.

This is a prospective, single center, pilot study performed during February 2013-September 2013. All consecutive patients planned for prostate biopsy were included in the study, and all the procedure was performed by a single surgeon aided by the specialized true targeting software. Initially, the patients underwent PHS to map the abnormal areas within the prostate that were ≥0.2 cm(3). TRUS guided biopsies were performed targeting the abnormal areas with a specialized software. Additionally, routine bisextant biopsies were also taken. The final histopathology of the target cores was compared with the bisextant cores.

A total of 43 patients underwent combined 'targeted PHS guided' and 'standard 12 core systematic' biopsies. The mean volume of abnormal area detected by PHS is 4.3 cm(3). The overall cancer detection rate was 46.5 % (20/43) with systemic cores and target cores detecting cancer in 44 % (19/43) and 26 % (11/43), respectively. The mean % cancer/core length of the PHS-TT cores were significantly higher than the systematic cores (55.4 vs. 37.5 %. p < 0.05). In biopsy naïve patients, the cancer detection rate (43.7 % vs. 14.8 %. p = 0.06) and the cancer positivity of the cores (30.1 vs. 6.8 %. p < 0.01) of target cores were higher than those patients with prior biopsies.

PHS-TT is feasible and can be an effective tool for real-time guidance of prostate biopsies.